BYOD in Education Technology is transforming the way learning is consumed and delivered. A

2013 survey (2) of about 500 colleges, universities and K-12 school districts

in the United States and United Kingdom found that more than 85 percent

of these institutions permitted some form of BYOD (Bring Your Own

Device). As devices continue to proliferate, students are now learning

“anywhere, anytime and anyhow”, clearly expecting courseware to be

seamlessly accessible on the devices of their choice.

Mobility of education is therefore hygiene. When the philanthropic arm of a

global education company conducted a survey three years ago, they found

that 73 percent of students preferred digital textbooks to paper, and a

whopping 86 percent believed that tablets helped them learn better.

For educational institutions, for whom maximizing learning outcomes is a

top priority, there couldn’t be a more persuasive argument in favor of

mobility. It is therefore imperative that schools and colleges embrace mobile

technologies to support a spectrum of learning and teaching activities.

The challenge of churnA mobile enabled learning platform can deliver significant benefits at every

stage of the learning lifecycle. It frees both students and teachers of the

traditional constraints of time and space. Students can learn on the go, and

yet access their peer and academic network any time they need to

collaborate or consult. They can connect with faculty with a single click on

their smartphones, and take quizzes or assessment tests whenever it is

convenient. On the flip side, students who do not have such options are

forced to learn within a conventional construct, which offers far fewer

opportunities for collaborative learning and engagement. Since low levels of

engagement is one of the biggest reasons for student dropout, it follows

that mobilizing education will result in higher student retention.

A post graduate from IIM, Lucknow

with about 20 years’ experience

Arvind, has spent the last 10 years

in leadership roles advocating

technology in Learning, Training

and Assessment with customers

across the globe.

About the authors

Mobility for Learning

Arvind ThothadriVice President – New Initiatives

Co-founder of MeritTrac Services,

India’s largest assessment

company that develops and

delivers over 2 million online and

paper assessments each year,

Mohan drives development and

innovation on EduNxt Learning

Ecosystem.

Mohan Kannegal Head - Learning Solutions Group

Choosing the Right Platform Clearly, mobility has the potential to make a deep impact on engagement

and learning outcomes, but the actual result will depend on the capability of

the learning management platform. Hence the learning platform should not

only be mobile-compatible, but also offer access to its full array of tools,

multi-media content and analytics. Moreover, the mobile learning platform

should be designed with a strong focus on user experience.

EduNxt, from Manipal Global Education, is a proven learning management

platform with evolved mobile enablement. Unlike many platforms, which

offer little besides mobile alerts, EduNxt has a rich feature set that supports

multiple activities; students can access multimedia course content,

collaborate with peers and teaching staff on their mobiles and tablets. They

can also take online tests and assessments on mobile.

EduNxt enables a range of thoughtful and sophisticated engagement

activities through mobile and tablet. A virtual leaderboard showcases the

top ten students in the class, ranked based on a matrix of parameters. The

Q&A platform is intuitive and easy to use and allows students to resolve

problems collaboratively.

One of the most powerful features of EduNxt is its offline ability that allows

learners to complete a quiz even in the absence of connectivity. Once the

learner is back on a network, the quiz responses are automatically uploaded

online and evaluated.

EduNxt is among the very few platforms to allow *QTI & SCORM content to

play on mobile phones and tablets. Content can be tracked and analyzed.

Faculty can monitor a student’s usage of mobile content, and students can

resume activity from where they left off.

The EduNxt platform delivers Byte Sized Learning, to enable working

professionals to learn on the go and in between meetings.

A good learning platform also provides teachers with visibility into student

activity, pre-class preparation, academic progress, test scores and more on

their mobile devices, anytime, anywhere.

A 24/7 helpdesk allows students to log issues and get immediate

responses. Administrative staff can also leverage the platform’s mobility to

send out notifications. Reminders and notifications for tests, assignment

submission deadlines or new discussion threads are most effective when

delivered on a mobile device that learners have constant access to.

Compatible with any device,

any browser.

58% of students can’t go

more than an hour without

checking their phones.1

120,000+ App Downloads: Testament to EduNxt’s Success Sikkim Manipal University is the largest privately owned distance education

provider in India. In 2015, more than 120,000 learners have downloaded the

EduNxt IOS or Android app on their mobiles and tablets There has been a

noticeable increase in the number of students taking quizzes to assess exam

readiness ever since they were launched on the mobile app. Further

endorsement, as well as evidence of engagement, comes in the form of an

impressive 3.93 (average) rating out of 5, given by approximately 3,000

students on the Android App Store.

Importantly, these app downloads have translated into better learning

outcomes and higher graduation rates. In the case of Sikkim Manipal

University, we have seen that engagement on the platform’s online and

mobile channels correlates strongly with a decrease in student dropout.

ConclusionMaximizing learning outcomes for students is one of the biggest goals of

educational institutions – a goal, which is closely linked to student

engagement. In an age where bringing your own device is the norm, students

expect learning also to be available at all times, in all places, and on all the

devices of their choice. Hence a mobile enabled learning platform is no

longer merely nice to have, but an absolute necessity. The EduNxt learning

management platform packs rich mobile functionality to deliver a seamless,

omnichannel experience to students to improve both learning outcomes and

engagement.

*SCORM is the de facto industry standard for e-learning interoperability.

Specifically, SCORM governs how online learning content and Learning

Management Systems (LMSs) communicate with each other. If an LMS is

SCORM conformant, it can play any content that is SCORM conformant, and

any SCORM conformant content can play in any SCORM conformant LMS.

It enables tracking of content within a Learning Management system. The

LMS uses this tracking data for providing Analytics on performance

Rated 3.93 (average) out of

5, by approximately 3,000

students on the Android

App Store.

EduNxt Engagement Levels % Dropout

Top 25%

Bottom 25%

19%

38%

The IMS Question and Test Interoperability specification (QTI) defines a

standard format for the representation of assessment content and results,

supporting the exchange of this material between authoring and delivery

systems, repositories and other learning management systems. It allows

assessment materials to be authored and delivered on multiple systems

interchangeably. It is, therefore, designed to facilitate interoperability

1. http://www.slideshare.net/ellucian/the-mobileimperativeinfographic-32551071

2. http://www.bradfordnetworks.com/resources/whitepapers/the-impact-of-byod-in

-education/

3. http://www.aerohive.com/pdfs/Aerohive-Whitepaper-Cloud-Mobility-Platform.pdf

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QTI

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